The 19-year-old spent last season with the Eredivisie side, where he was instrumental in the club’s third-place finish, warranting a move back to his homeland.

City revealed the ins and outs of the move in a statement on their official website, noting just how integral a cog he was in the PSV machine last term:

City defender Karim Rekik will spend the 2014-15 season on loan at PSV Eindhoven. The Dutch starlet has signed for the Eredivisie outfit for a second year. Karim turned out on 31 occasions in all competitions last season and scored one goal.

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Rekik is one of those defenders that simply needs playing time to blossom into the world-class asset that he promises to be, and staying with City isn’t the way to go about that.

The Dutchman was given lots of playing time by manager Manuel Pellegrini during City’s pre-season campaign, but the chances of a Premier League appearance in 2014-15 are slim to say the least.

The £32 million arrival of Porto’s Eliaquim Mangala forcing Rekik down the defensive pecking order adds to that equation, too, meaning that another year with PSV is ideal for the Dutchman.

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Clearly, Rekik is ideal for PSV, as well, as the club’s sporting director Marcel Brands revealed that they were putting their defensive plans on hold at the start of the summer in the hope that the youngster would return, per Stuart Brennan of Manchester Evening News:

“We are waiting for him. Karim is our first option—he knows our club and the way of playing so that’s an advantage.”

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The Premier League champions signed Rekik as a youth from Feyenoord in 2011 and he’s spent his time in City’s books on the road since then, moving on loan around England before heading to the Netherlands.

Another loan spell will hardly be unfamiliar territory for the youngster, who is making the transition from star of the future to star of the present at an astounding rate.

If his progression continues at PSV, then it’s safe to say that Rekik will be challenging for a place at the Etihad sooner rather than later.